Qatar
Foreign Nationals and the Death Penalty
Death Penalty Overview
Qatar’s judiciary operates under a dual legal
system comprising Islamic courts and civil or
adliyya courts. Unlike civil courts in other Gulf
states, Qatar's adliyya courts are considered
autonomous, self-regulating legal entities. Under
the constitution, the emir has the power to
pardon or commute sentences.
Under Sharia law, which is a key part of Qatar's
legal system, crimes fall into three categories:
qesas, hudud and ta'azir. Qesas, the rst
category, includes serious crimes such as murder
and causing bodily harm. It provides avenues for
restitution and forgiveness under Sharia law,
such as the 'blood money' provision, whereby
the accused may choose to pay nancial
compensation to the victim's family as an
alternative to retribution by execution.
Crimes punishable by death include murder,
terrorist activities, rape, incest, treason and
espionage. The country's Penal Code also
provides for the death penalty for certain Hudud
offences under Sharia law, which cover a range
of crimes from theft and alcohol consumption to
apostasy. The penal system also allows the death
penalty to be imposed for repeated drug
traf cking.
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Qatar's criminal justice system comprises three
levels of courts. The Primary Court initially hears
all cases and passes judgement.
Minor offences and misdemeanours are heard
by the Lower Criminal Court, which is presided
over by a single judge.
The Higher Criminal Court, consisting of a panel
of three judges, hears serious crimes and
appeals against sentences handed down by the
lower court. In certain cases, an appeal may be
made to the Supreme Court within 60 days of
the of cial noti cation of the decision of the
Court of Appeal.
Death sentences require a unanimous decision
by all three judges of the High Criminal Court
and cannot be carried out without the Emir's
authorisation. The Court of Appeal has the
power to commute a death sentence to life
imprisonment or to a term of not less than ve
years. In cases of murder, the death penalty can
be commuted to imprisonment if the victim's
next of kin pardon the offender or accepts
‘blood money’.
Qatar's justice system has been consistently
criticised by the UN and Amnesty International
for inadequate access to legal counsel in a
language the defendant understands,
restrictions on the ability of defendants to
address the courts, trials in absentia, and
allegations of forced confessions obtained
through torture, particularly of non-Qatari
nationals.
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